Month: October 2014

Diving is something that is very closely associated with the sport of football. But according to Richard Cockerill (coach of Leicester Tigers) diving might become a common phenomenon in rugby as well because of the decision taken by Rugby Football Union (RFU) in relation to a ‘punching’ incident that took place on the 27th of September, 2014.
This incident took place in the round 4 Aviva Premiership match between Leicester Tigers and London Irish. Cockerill claimed that Blair Cowan (London Irish’s player) had punched Jamie Gibson (Leicester Tigers’ player) when both of them got into a struggle during the first-half of the rugby match.
Greg Garner- referee of this particular match just gave a penalty to Cowan instead of showing him a yellow card and this disappointed Cockerill who discussed this incident with Rugby Football Union.
Gerard McEvilly (disciplinary head of RFU) and Wade Dooley (citing officer) sent an email to Richard Cockerill saying that the offence committed by Cowan deserved just a penalty.
Something that greatly alarmed Cockerill was the comment that since no treatment was required for Gibson and since he did not fall to the floor, Cowan was not sent off. This means that the players are actually being encouraged to dive just like in football matches so that other players can be sent off the field.
Earlier the phenomenon of diving in rugby matches was not at all present. However, nowadays regular incidents are taking place in which attempts at diving are being tremendously reflected.
Cockerill is of the opinion that there will come a time when the coaches will train the rugby players to fall down or get injured on purpose in order to get their rival players red or yellow carded.
According to Cockerill, it is a shame that the law makers themselves are encouraging rugby players to engage in diving which is unacceptable.